yes we used to sail

 

And dressed like this when we were going to sail. When the weather was good. Warm even. Obvs :-)

We haven't got the old tub Freyja now having given her to someone who says he will have a better use for her. And sadly, we don't miss her either.

Boats

boats and that jazz. love em or hate them. Tis both for me. I love a bit of sailing but now we have passed on the good ship Freyja to someone who will use her more, I am trying not think about bobbing about on the water.

However, wee boatees and bigger one are all over the place up here in the damp north. Like this one at Brevig 'Harbour' captured with the Voigtlander Perkeo the other day

"The Artist" formerly known as Jon

I bumped into the lovely man that was Jon MacLeod the other day whilst strolling the harbour and making sure our wee boatee Freyja hadn't sunk.

Don't seem to see the fine fellow too much these days as he's building his lego house on the west side of the island at present. I notice there's metal stuff up there in a vague house shape at the moment. Hopefully it will progress soon

Guilty as charged

I haven't actually been charged with anything I'll have you know but the good tub Freyja is waiting patiently for us to give her a good scrub. The green stuff is slowly growing in her and we haven't had the mind or the energy to go and sort her. I feel rather guilty I must say. Must sort it soon as would love to sail over The Festival of Conspicuous Over-Consumption.

On another watery note, I managed to flood the darkroom last night so I'm hoping not to have trench foot at the end of today .

Ooh, sailing

No it wasn't raining yesterday. Twas about 390 C in the shad it seemed. Got overwarmed and everything. But we went sailing. Lots of wind, waves and all.

The Sail Stormoway Cruise in company it was only they weren't good company really as they went off fast, sailing over the horizon as we wrestled to get the little boatee Freyja out beyond Arnish in the outer harbour. I mean we had to turn this way and that to make headway, then the water started bumping around a lot, the wee boaty went up and down.

To be totally honest, we must have been proper first back taking in account our boatee was a tiddler, our age and incompetence - all worked out in a proper handicap. Only, they, the others didn't see it that way.

Lost my pink glasses an all on the way back in - very nice sailing though thank you very much. The string holding the bins slipped off my hair and plop, they were gone into the harbour.

Still, we moored up on the absent Admiral Hales' summer moooring for a while to have a sleep before putting the boaty back on our ropey things back behind the rocks and whathaveyou - once the tide agreed to come back in a bit.

Hebrides, Faeroes

Force 7-8 gusting 9 at times.

There was a wee breeze the other day. It accompanied the rain. You know, just a normal day. As it happens I wasn't feeling at my best so just had a small stroll to brush the cobwebs away. And they did get blown away along with the dustbins and the little P&S camera in my hands on this dull dull, wet and breezy day.

The sea was a tad rough too. I was going to snap up the sea but I couldn't see much through the rain - even on the beach. Trust me, it wasn't very happy and I was glad not to be out in it in our little boat Freyja. Or on the ferry !

Near Freyja

Freyja, our little super-yacht will now be nestling somewhere near here, biding her time till we return from England. Eh? Yes, we have been away. relatives and all that.

Twicer

You may have seen this image before of the Tweed Ride but this is the lith print on Slavich Unibrom. Unibrom is a truly wonderful lith paper - from Russia with love.

Until recently, the waether has been playing well. Sun and calm conditions tempted us out on the old tub Freyja but there was too little wind really. Still, nice bobbing about a bit.

Carbon

In our insatiable search for oil, huge constructions get towed around the place. Recently, you may know, an old rig on it's way to be cut up in Malta went aground on the west coast of the island. Only 53,000 gals of oil has escaped - so far and the thing is still stuck there.

Now artists such as Alex Boyd and John Maher have trekked over the hills to photograph the wreck. I haven't. You are not meant to either. The road to the beach where the rig is located is closed by the police and there are notices all over that side of the island forbidding one to go there.

 To be totally frank, I'm not sure the sheeps can read that notice stuck to a rickety gate down the west side somewhere. It hardly registered on my Polypan-f film in my Zorki6.

The up-side is that we now have more tug boats and salvage related boats in Stormaway harbour than cruise ships for a change. I snapped this snap from our wee boatee Freyja while out for a sail the other day using a little Pentax Espio P&S and good old Polypan-f film zapped in PQ developer.

Sailing

I know I usually post snaps of sailing over at http://freyja-yacht.blogspot.co.uk/ - d*g*tal snaps as well. However, we've just been sailing on holiday. Not proper sailing you understand but sailing on the lovely Norfolk Broads - where a slight slope is considered a hill.  We hired a lovely old boat - Zoe which was 120 years old. Well, the keel and the design was 120 years old. The rest of it was a bit like Trigger's broom. Lovely boat though if a little hard work to sail.

Since I had a film camera with me I took the liberty of taking a snap or three. Here's the first three.

Sorry about all the shades of colour. Not sure how it works to be honest.

So quiet and contemplative that sort of sailing - especially on the rivers. Nicely quiet sailing at 1-2knots with only the sounds of water rippling, the mast creaking and some light murdering on the bank as some poor chick meets its maker courtesy of a raptor or something.

Even the long necked white ducks were playing along, keeping their little foals on their backs as we glid by.

Sun, sea and sod all else

Sunday didn't quite work as intended.
The Mechanical Paddling Device on Freyja refused to play so we couldn't get off the mooring without risking a grounding.

Blogs

I have been running this little blogette for a while. Since 2006 since you ask. Fairly regularly as I always feel a blog is only worth having at all if it is updated from time to time. And I do try to do that.

Only, yesterday I was looking through some of my blog links and find that some of them have 'retired' and others have just stalled - for years at a time. So I have been thinning the links out a bit. So, if you think I have removed something wrongly, please mention it and do suggest other film photo blogs.

We went down to the wee boatee on Sunday and then out to Freyja our little yacht to remove the mainsail so we can mend it. This rib was out on the water apparently. Admiral Hales said he saw it go out with some 'customers' aboard - in between the snow showers.

Been sailing

See http://freyja-yacht.blogspot.co.uk/ if you want

Been sailing.

http://freyja-yacht.blogspot.co.uk/

waiting

We are on tenterhooks here. The weather people tell us there is a big blow coming in. Hurricane force and everything. Seemed fine today though with the sun shining.

I've tied everything down all the same. The buses are cancelled on Friday and the schools shut but the good tub Freyja is out on her hopefully sheltered mooring!

Point & Shoot?

I mess around with cameras - all sorts. Old and very old cameras. Ones that work properly and ones that don't. Complicated ones, manual ones and in two cases, automatic ones. Like the Minolta Point & Shoot camera I have. Paid all of 99p for it but, and here's the rub, works really quite well. Makes up somewhat for my incompetence. And I wouldn't matter if I dropped it in the sea either - although I'd hate to lose a roll of film in the process.

Ok, it's not completely in focus but the exposure is fine. And the subject - Leigh on the good-tub Freyja - is great. And yes, the developing leaves a bit to be desired. But otherwise it's lovely don't you think?

twiddling big string

That's Eve on the pointy end of the wee boatee Freyja. Doing something with big string we keep up that end for something or other. Not exactly sure what for to be honest, I keep myself to myself in that department - unless I sail on my own then I just pile the big string and whatever else is up there up on the front bit and leap for the steering stick before I run aground [again]. Works for me.

From another day

My last sailing till now with David, the village person from the village. He almost looks happy despite this being after the sail. Perhaps it's because we'd just got out of the wee-blow-up after the trip back from the tub Freyja. It was, as you can see a majorly stormy day.

I took the snaps with the XA2 I had about my person. Here with the Sgoth lying alongside the marinar thing opposite the castle. I don't live there.

David does live in  a Castlely place. In the Village.

Putt putt.

Freyja

Drop mooring rope, untangle dinghy painter from tub Freyja. Putt putt, putt etc. Sunshine, breeze, up sail, bob bob bob turn bob bob turn, bob bob uncontrolled pirouette, flap flap flap, bob bob turn bob bob sail down putt putt putt Sunshine putt putt. Pick up mooring rope. relax. Smile. Enjoy.

What a lovely morning for sailing it was. I enjoyed it anyway despite barely going into the outer harbour. Look at the weather, lovely.

Iron Bark

There was another lovely boat lurking marina-side as I dinghied out then in. Called Iron Bark she spent the winter iced in at Greenland. Madness. See his blog here. Apparently, friends with Mick, Bee & Toots.

Floaty things

I have just finished my cup of green tea - the sort that does you a world of good. Apparently. I rather like the stuff to be honest but this time there was a flyette in there. Made me thing about all sorts of floaty things - like our wee boatee that still - hopefully - bobs around in the harbour awaiting me to find enough energy to likt the thing out. Should have got the crane man to do it really when he 'did' the others a few weeks back. That's what they were doing in this here snap.

Freyja needs a good clean, a bit of varnish, some paint and tlc before we embark on our next transA..... transA... Transharbour escapade :-)